How many cooks, so many recipes. But still there are some rules and recommendations that will allow you to find the answer to the question: "How to cook pilaf at home?"
There is a special category of dishes that underlies gastronomic art. If it is Belarusian cuisine, then draniki is obligatory, if it is Russian, then hodgepodge, if oriental, then pilaf. It is cooked over an open fire in a thick cauldron. It's time to reveal all the secrets of cooking this pilaf.
Key recommendations
Before you learn how to cook pilaf at home, you need to find out which rice is suitable for this dish. Different varieties are used for cooking in different regions. In any case, it should absorb water well, but not boil down. For real pilaf, long-grain, large and transparent rice with a minimum starch content is suitable.
There are other tips to help you learn how to cook pilaf at home:
- The dish is prepared in a thick-walled bowl (ideally, a cauldron).
- Almost all ingredients (vegetables and meat) are fried in special fat tail fat (modern housewives can use ordinary vegetable oil), which must be heated until a slight haze is formed.
- Much attention is paid to the preparation of zirvak - any meat should be well-done. If there are bones, they must be fried first and foremost - this will give the dish a rich taste.
- Carrots are cut into large strips, and onions - rather large half rings. For pilaf, it is best to take red carrots - it has a sweet taste, which is extremely important for the preparation of this pilaf.
- The meat must be stewed in its own juice for at least 30 minutes. Only in this case, the zirvak is filled with meat aroma, and onions and carrots will give it additional sweetness, which will certainly affect the taste of the Uzbek dish.
- The broth should be salted immediately before laying the rice. It can be slightly salted, since rice in any case absorbs part of the salt.
- Many still still do not know how to cook crumbly pilaf at home. It turns out that the matter is the amount of liquid - it should not be too much. Ideally, the water should cover the rice only 1 cm, but this also depends on how correctly the cereal was prepared for laying.
So it's time to talk about how to prepare all the ingredients for pilaf.
Rice: what to choose and how to cook
They seemed to have decided on the choice of rice - it should contain a minimum amount of starch. Nevertheless, this product is the main stumbling block for cooks who know how to cook pilaf at home. Ideal is rice Devzira. But all Uzbek and Tajik varieties are also suitable for preparing traditional dishes of oriental cuisine.
Domestic housewives can use traditional varieties of cereals, but the main thing is to give preference to one that contains a minimum amount of starch. Any rice just needs to be washed in several waters! This is rule number 1. It would be nice to soak the cereal for an hour or two before lowering it into the cauldron, after which it needs to be put on a sieve so that excess liquid is gone.
The oldest recipe
Historians and gastronomic minds of our planet believe that the foundations for the preparation of this dish developed long before the advent of our era. Abu Ali ibn Sino knew exactly how to cook a real pilaf. It’s easy to make it at home, because it’s not at all a matter of selecting exclusive ingredients - it’s only technology compliance.
Our compatriot Kozma Prutkov did not say in vain: "See the root!" So, it's time to find it in the word "fallen" (pilaf is a more familiar, but not quite correct name):
- P (piez) - onions, without which it is simply impossible to imagine this dish, will relieve the unpleasant odor that forms when the fat or oil is heated.
- A (aez) - carrots. This component is not used in the Caucasus, India and some Arab countries, but it is this ingredient that increases the volume of the finished dish, gives it a characteristic sweet taste, saturates pilaf with useful substances and promotes better cooking of meat.
- L (lahm) - meat - the main component of any pilaf in the comments does not need.
- O (olio) - fat or oil. Without this component, pilaf simply burns. For real pilaf use natural fat of animal origin (ideally mutton fat tail fat).
- In (vet) - salt. This may not seem like such a significant component, but it is not. And you try not to add it to the dish. You can forget about barberry, quiche, pepper and other spices, but you should not forget about salt in any case - it will simply destroy the dish.
Many will think about how to cook Tajik pilaf at home without rice? For attentiveness - five with a plus. But do not slander the genius of medicine - Avicenna knew exactly how to cook pilaf at home. The Uzbeks called this dish none other than “Osh,” where O is water and W is rice. It remains only to familiarize yourself with some traditional recipes.
Step-by-step recipe for Uzbek pilaf
The sequence is as follows:
- Melt the fat in a cauldron (it is best to do this over high heat).
- Send onion chopped into large rings.
- After some time, add meat to the vegetables (lamb chopped in medium slices) and brown it.
- Cut carrots into large strips, lightly fry and simmer with the addition of a small amount of water.
- Add a little more liquid and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat.
- Add salt and spices (this can be zira, pepper, barberry, ham, turmeric, etc.).
This is just a zirvak - the so-called basis of pilaf. It should be transparent - only in this case the rice will turn out friable. One of the main secrets of the dish is revealed. It remains only to figure out how to cook pilaf from lamb at home.
Zirvak is ready - continue on
Any housewife must learn to properly prepare the basis for pilaf. Further it will be easier:
- In the cauldron with meat and vegetable broth lay previously prepared rice in a uniform layer.
- Pour the cereal with water through a slotted spoon.
- Rice will absorb all the water, after which it will be ready for steaming (for these purposes, make a small slide with an opening so that the steam comes out).
- It remains only to cover the cauldron with a lid and leave the dish alone for half an hour.
- After 30 minutes, you can mix pilaf for the first time in all time (carefully and very carefully).
In fact, there is nothing complicated. Knowing how to cook Uzbek pilaf at home, you can cook this dish not only in a cauldron, but also in a pot, slow cooker or in a pan.
Holiday pilaf recipe
To prepare it, you will need the following ingredients:
- 1 kilogram of rice;
- 800 grams of lamb;
- 150 grams of chickpea;
- 350 grams of fat;
- 400 grams of carrots;
- 4 medium onions;
- 4 heads of garlic;
- 50 grams of light raisins;
- 50 grams of pomegranate seeds;
- Oriental spices and spices.
To decorate the dish you will need 2 boiled chicken eggs, boiled carrots, onions and radish. This recipe will help you learn how to cook pilaf at home in a pan.
How to cook?
Chickpeas must be soaked overnight in cold water. Rice should be washed several times, after which it should be left in water for two hours and put in a sieve to allow excess liquid to leave. The meat should be cut into medium sized pieces. Cut onions into large half rings, and carrots - rather large straws.
Heat vegetable oil in a cauldron, fry the meat in it until golden brown, then send the onion there. Once it becomes soft, you can lay out a layer of carrots, on it - chickpeas and a few peas of black pepper. Pour everything in water and cook for about an hour, after which you can lay out the rice, distributing it over the entire surface of the cauldron. Again, fill with water so that the liquid covers the cereal by 1 cm. Turn on a large fire and make sure that the temperature in the cauldron is uniform.
As soon as the moisture evaporates, you need to reduce the flame, collect a hill of rice in the center of the cauldron and pierce the pilaf with a knife in several places - this is necessary in order for the steam to escape. After these manipulations, you need to cover the cauldron with a lid and leave it on fire for some more time.
Delicious chicken pilaf
Contrary to traditional recipes, you can cook pilaf at home in a slow cooker, because not everyone can boast of having a real cauldron. For the same reason, you should familiarize yourself with the recipe for an equally delicious chicken dish, because lamb is a rather expensive and scarce product. Moreover, such a pilaf is cooked very quickly, but it turns out incredibly tasty. To prepare it you need:
- Chicken fillet - 800 grams.
- Onions - about 400 grams.
- Red carrots - 600 grams.
- Rice is as much as carrots.
- Vegetable oil - almost half a glass.
- Spices - here everyone chooses independently.
Step by step recipe
You can cook in a cauldron, and in its absence - in a deep thick-walled pan. You will also need a long Chinese stick or a regular spoon with a long handle. Cooking any oriental dish requires a special approach. In this case, pilaf is no exception. It should be cooked slowly, carefully observing the entire sequence of bookmarking the ingredients. Only in that case can you cook pilaf at home in a saucepan.
So, first of all, you need to do chicken. It is best to use a whole carcass of a small size (a variety of meat will get a richer flavor). In the homeland of pilaf, the formula for the ideal ratio of products was derived: the same meat and the same amount of carrot are taken for 0.5 kg of rice. Chicken meat should be cut into small pieces. Onions - medium half rings, and carrots - fairly large straws. Rinse thoroughly and leave in water for a while. You can pre-cook and garlic. For a real Uzbek pilaf, they take the whole head, cleaning it only from the ground and slightly cutting the place where all the cloves gather.
And then everything will happen exactly the same as in the previous recipes: fry the meat, add onions, then a layer of carrots, a layer of rice and spices, pour water on everything and cook until all the liquid has evaporated.
Ferghana recipe: classic in its true manifestation
The name speaks for itself eloquently - a dish originally from Ferghana. This is the pilaf that is being prepared in Uzbekistan. On the basis of this recipe created a wide variety of ways to cook pilaf. Many people think about how to cook pilaf at home in the oven. The answer to this question will be found very soon, but for now it’s worth studying the list of products that will be needed for the classic recipe:
- Lamb meat - 800 grams.
- 100 grams of fat tail fat.
- 0.5 cups of vegetable oil.
- Red carrots - 600 grams.
- Rice of the “right” variety is as much as carrots.
- 1 teaspoon of zira.
- 2 heads of garlic.
- Oriental spices and spices.
The stage of preparation of the ingredients is very important, because it determines the taste qualities of a real Uzbek pilaf in many respects.
How to prepare products for pilaf?
For the classic recipe, it is best to use meat on the bone and the pulp itself. If you could not find a good lamb, you can use beef. It is good if the meat is chilled rather than frozen. Lamb should be washed and dried with a paper towel, and then chopped into medium-sized pieces. To prepare a real Uzbek pilaf, you will need fat tail fat - only with it the dish turns out to be much tastier, aromatic and rich.
Cut the onion into thin rings. Carrots - rather large straws. Peel the garlic from the top layer of the husk and remove the "ass". Rinse the rice in several waters and soak, then fold it in a colander so that the glass is excess liquid. Now you can proceed to the most important thing.
How to cook a real Ferghana pilaf?
Put the cauldron on the stove and warm it well. Pour in vegetable oil or melt fat tail fat. The last to evaporate to the crackles. After that, gently lower the pieces of meat into the cauldron. First, lamb on the bone. The meat should be fried over high heat until golden brown. After that, you can add the onion, and on top of it - pieces of pulp. The meat should not be mixed immediately - it is best to do this in 3-4 minutes, when it reaches the same temperature as all the other ingredients in the cauldron.
The flesh should also brown. Only then can carrots be sent to the cauldron. She also needs to be given a few minutes to “keep warm” - only then can she be mixed. After 5 minutes, you can add half of the zira and pour the entire contents of the cauldron with water so that it covers the carrots. Close the lid and leave the zirvak for 20-30 minutes alone on low heat.
After this time, you can carefully separate the meat from the seeds and immerse two heads of garlic in a cauldron, as well as add all the other spices (pepper, salt, zira, coriander, barberry, etc.). After 5 minutes, you can lay out the rice, distributing it evenly over the entire surface of the cauldron. Use a slotted spoon to add water so that it covers the rice by at least 1 cm. Bring the dish to a boil, then reduce the heat. To taste the broth. Add salt if necessary.
After 15 minutes, the water should evaporate. If the rice remains uncooked, you can add some more hot water and keep the dish on fire. If the cereal is ready, you need to build a small pea and make a hole in it to the very bottom. Pour there half of the remaining zira, after rubbing it in the palms of your hands.
Now you need to make a minimum fire and close the cauldron, covering it with a towel on top. Leave the dish for another 15 minutes, then turn off the flame and let the pilaf infuse. After a while, you can gently mix the entire contents and arrange the fragrant dish on plates. Enjoy your meal!